Friday, May 22, 2020

Critical Book Review Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian

In his book Forgotten Fire, author Adam Bagdasarian investigates the Armenian Genocide through the eyes of a twelve year old Armenian boy named Vahan Kenderian. Through Vahan, the reader experiences the atrocities committed during the 1915 genocide of Armenians in Turkey. The Turks, who were Muslim, viewed the Christian Armenians as inferiors and treated them as such; under Turkish law, Armenians had nearly no rights, no fair justice in Turkish courts, could not bear arms, and were taxed far higher than Turks, which led to many families losing their possessions and homes. But unlike many other Armenian families of the time, Vahans family, consisting of two girls, four boys (including Vahan), Vahans Uncle Mumpreh, grandmother Toumia, and†¦show more content†¦Gregorys Orphanage. During this time, Vahan went back to school. In the epilogue of the book, Vahan is reunited with his sister Oskina, and learns that the remaining members of his family, his mother and uncle, died not l ong after Vahan had escaped. In this book, the author identifies several themes including loneliness, loss of faith, and identity. The theme of loneliness can be seen throughout the book, when Vahan gets close to a particular person, theyre viciously ripped away, usually in death. An example of this can be seen in the scene in which Vahan is staying in the stable of Selim Beys father and a young girl is sent to stay with him. Because he had been alone for so long, Vahan is extremely excited that he has someone to confide in. But the young girl is not willing to trust Vahan as easily as he trusts her, and with good reason. Vahan soon discovers why the girl is really there when several gendarmes come to the stable during the night and rape the young girl, and Vahan is powerless to stop them. At one point, Vahan remarks, The problem with loneliness is that, unlike other forms of human suffering, it teaches us nothing, leads us nowhere, and generally devalues us in our own eyes and in the eyes of othersÂ….It sim ply comes, sits

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